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Tesla Releases Electric Car Patents To the Public
mknewman (557587) writes with a welcome followup to the broad hints that Tesla might release some of its patents for others to use patents that it has amassed. Now, Elon Musk writes on the company's blog: Yesterday, there was a wall of Tesla patents in the lobby of our Palo Alto headquarters. That is no longer the case. They have been removed, in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology. Tesla Motors was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport. If we clear a path to the creation of compelling electric vehicles, but then lay intellectual property landmines behind us to inhibit others, we are acting in a manner contrary to that goal. Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.
Your rant pegs you as a communist, that is to say, as someone who hates the act of job creation (and loves slavery). So let's just clarify: Musk is a shareholder. Presumably such a momentous decision was made in consultation with the board of directors, who are elected by the shareholders.
The millions of stock option recipients throughout Silicon Valley history are all essentially shareholders. That is to say, the prospect of being a shareholder is what attracts talented people to work for start-up businesses, and thereby create cool and interesting things that the people find useful.
Have a look at Venezuela nowadays. Rumor is, even if someone has currency, it's increasingly difficult to purchase basic staples. Communist tyrants like Chavez and Maduro always hurt everybody, and benefit only themselves.
It wouldn't matter, but not in the way you meant. The reason it doesn't matter is that in present day America, the side with the most money always wins legal battles. So it's pointless to speculate and debate the actual legal technicalities, because the highest paid lawyers are better at it than you.